The present invention relates to control pins and in certain embodiments to control pins for comparators. It is known in the prior art to have control pins attached to electronic circuits for providing an input point for receiving a control signal. Normally, control pins and control pin electronics are designed to receive either an analog signal or a digital signal, but not both.
It has been common practice for electronics manufacturers to suggest applying analog bias voltages or currents to comparator latch inputs (control pins) in order to obtain hysteresis effects. Although hysteresis occurs when a bias voltage or a current is applied to a comparator latch, the hysteresis is not controllable over usable ranges due to fluctuating voltage levels at the control pin.
More recently comparators have been constructed that have two pins; one pin used for hysteresis and the other pin used for latching. With these embodiments the hysteresis functionality was well regulated, but the current/voltage characteristics of the two pins prevented combination of the two into one single pin. In some cases, an attempt to do so would result in damage to the device being controlled.